Outside The Walls, Inside My Heart
by AkakuroxNalu4Life
Summary: Eren is a male omega that lives outside the walls who dreams of joining the Survey Corps to serve humanity, even if he's not actually human. Levi is an alpha who dreams of living outside the walls for true freedom. Eren is innocent, Levi is not. They both have nothing in common, except for one thing. They both yearn for love and their one true soulmate.


The trees rustled gently while the songbirds sang their melody, the crisp wind sweeping over the green fields as animals grazed. The clouds were like a sheep's fleece, white and fluffy as they gently rolled overhead while the sun shone its warm glow.

It was a peaceful sight, one that Eren always cherished. He had long learned to cherish mother nature, unlike the humans who resided in the wall. Especially the alphas. He couldn't blame them though, at least not all of them. While most of them lived in peaceful bliss of the terror of his distant species, he didn't, constantly fighting for his life and always sleeping with one eye open. He couldn't even call that sleep; it was more like forcing part of his body to shut down while the other part stayed tense and alert, always scoping his surrounding for anything unusual. He doubted that was how omegas were supposed to live, but it was how it was.

He sighed ruefully, thinking back to the days where he had only been a child. He should have been kinder to his parents, always having been a boy who never listened to his parents and couldn't control his temper. For an omega, he had a surprisingly snarky and aggressive nature and was often bullied for it. His father had met his mother in the Shiganshina district and he was born and raised in the walls. At least he was, until he turned five.

His father had led him out of the walls through a secret tunnel, saying he would show him the vast outlands the young him had always wanted. He remembered feeling an uncountable amount of joy and excitement, bouncing with every step even though he was blindfolded, grinning 'till his cheeks hurt. When they finally made it out, his father then steered him somewhere else, scolding him with fake mirth. As a child, he couldn't tell the difference real and fake, but now when he looked back at his memories, it became painfully obvious, and it _hurt_.

Literally.

One second, he was taking his blindfold off with an innocent smile like his father told him, and the next, he was on the ground with his father crying and repeating something over and over, a painfully excruciating sting in his forearm. He vaguely remembered screaming and crying, writhing around on the ground. Then, it went black.

He absentmindedly fiddled with his necklace, the golden key shining as it reflected the sun's rays. He wasn't sure if he was only missing more pieces of his already dodgy memory, or if he simply blacked out, but he could care less right now. Right now, his main focus was to survive and protect his mother by killing as many titans as possible and preventing them from going near the walls to the best of his abilities.–_If_ she was even alive. For all he knew, she could've already died in the walls and he wouldn't know jack shit.–He would exhaust himself going back and forth from hunting and fighting, and even then, those mindless killing machines would still slip past him.

He didn't worry too much though, because those humans in green capes and weird gadgets would always finish them off. He felt proud of them, being born like every other person with the dominant survival instinct to live, yet still joining such a dangerous group to risk their lives and help humanity. That group was something he strived to join, but it would remain a dream.

He scoffed. "Sure, they'd totally let a titan like me join. Not to mention I'm an omega." He laughed humourlessly, the sudden sound startling a pack of rabbits near him. They sprinted off into the vast shrubbery and Eren stared after them. He kept staring, even after the white balls of fur were completely gone from his sight.

He stood up, kneeling on one knee and gingerly pushing himself up on the other. He cracked his bones, having gone stiff from sitting down so long, and was about to walk off and start hunting to stock up on his rations for winter when he suddenly heard loud, thundering footstep from the deeper area in the forest. He cursed, bringing his hand up and prepared to bite down when his acute hearing picked up on another sound coming from somewhere behind him. Horses and shouting.

He whipped his head back in surprise, pulling up the hood of one of the forest-green coats he picked up from a dead soldier. It may have a few holes and tears in it, but it still provided him with some comfort and reassurance. Reassurance that he was still somewhat human and he was still serving humanity. He didn't care if no one was there to witness it. He was more than enough. At least that was what he told himself.

Eren let out another string of colourful words and ran into the forest, taking a well-memorised route that normal titans couldn't plough through, even with their size. He ran with such speed, even those deer he used to race with would be jealous. He went past the titan he heard from before, wincing when he noticed it was an abnormal fifteen-metre one. His speculations were correct, and he did not like it one bit. Nor did he like it when he realised the titan was heading towards the group of humans he also heard from before. He was pretty sure the other sounds he heard were from humans, because horses did not make organised strategy formations, send flares and talk.

_'__It would be cool if I could train one of the wild horses to talk though.'_ He mused. It would be easier and less boring to survive if he had a companion he could talk to. He could even send messages to the people who patrol the walls!

On second thought, that was probably a bad idea.

One particularly hard stomp from that stupid overgrown idiot had him tripping and falling flat on his face. He groaned pitifully, sitting up and scowling at all the mud and grass stuck to him. Just because he loved mother nature doesn't mean he liked getting dirty. He had developed a passion to stay clean and couldn't stand getting even a speck of dust on him. Quite ironic, since he lived in the wild and all. He shook his head to get rid of his thoughts, growling when his brown hair, still slightly matted with mud and sweat, whacked him in the face and scratched at his neck.

He got up again and was just about to run off towards his home when he heard a bloodcurdling scream of terror, stiffening and covering his sensitive ears to stop the painful ringing. He turned his head towards where he heard the horrible sound come from and gagged at the mangled corpse only a few feet away from where he stood. The man seemed to be in his twenty to thirties and had scraggly brown hair. He looked as to have been bitten in half after a failed attempt at the neck of a titan. Eren moved his gaze up and saw a titan, but it wasn't the abnormal one from a few minutes ago. Instead, this one was about seven metres tall and was relatively normal. Well, as normal as a titan could be.

He expanded his field of vision and noticed a few other people around the titan, which meant them and the titan had somehow gotten close to the Eren without him noticing. He mentally berated himself for the mistake that could've very well gotten him killed and pulled the hood of his cloak on. It had flopped back during his unexpected embrace with the forest floor and he made sure to secure the hood so it didn't flop back again when he was in the air.

Normally, he used his titan form to kill titan since it was easier, but now he couldn't afford to risk getting killed by the humans. He couldn't transform, not if he wanted to help them and get away safely. He'd seen what some of the veterans can do, and he'd rather not risk running into one during his little impromptu support mission. He looked around and scanned the area for any more potential threats and noticed another dead man, but this time, their body was intact and he only died from fatal head trauma. Probably.

Eren hurried over to the man and inspected the gear he was wearing. _'Intact, check. Gas, check. Cables, check. Blades-'_ He winced. The blades were gone and the odd box that usually held the spare blades was crushed, probably from contact when it hit the trees or ground. The male omega let out a _'tch'_ and pat his back to see whether he had brought his spear-like weapon. He sighed in relief when he felt the familiar, rough texture of his most prized possession. He had made this spear a year into his stay at the forest and had added several new tweaks and improvements since then. It was his pride and joy and his only real belonging. He didn't really have much. Living in a forest packed with huge trees and an endless abundance of brainless man-eating giants helped with that.

He took the spear from its holder and held it out in front of him, twirling it around and looking for any problems. Having seen none and feeling satisfied with its condition, he shoved it back into the straps on his back and started taking the gear off the man's cold, dead form. He then put the gear on his own body, letting out another curse when it was a little too big. He tightened the straps as much as he could, flinching when he heard another ear-splitting scream. _'That is definitely going to attract more titans.'_ He growled in annoyance. He growled again, this time in anger, when one of the many straps got stuck. He violently tugged at it a few more times and it finally relented, tightening enough that he finally felt satisfied. He glanced over at the heavy metal box again, sighing at the still crushed state it was in. He'd just have to make do with it. At least he has his trusted spear with him.

He turned towards the titan, pressing the trigger and launching off into the trees. He gracefully landed on a thick branch a few metres from the seven-metre titan, glaring daggers at it when it turned towards him. The titan moved, jumping up and reaching its fat hands in his direction, but it went right past him. He shot his head back in surprise and was shocked when he saw that the titan had grabbed a person behind him instead. He had sensed a presence behind him, but he didn't think it would be another human.

Said person had short blond hair, a short stubble of a beard and a somewhat slim figure. A beta. His hair was slightly dishevelled and he made it even messier as he kicked and struggled in the titan's hold. Eren _'tsk'_-ed under his breath, aiming the gear at the titans left wrist. He shot off again, reaching a hand back to grab his spear and took it out in one fluent movement.

The spear itself was simple, yet complicated at the same time. He had found a nice smelling wood that was both sturdy and good-looking. He made his first prototype out of that wood and some roughly generated hardened titan flesh. It was a cool ability he'd accidentally discovered when he was about to be bitten at the nape. A nice little nifty and handy trick.

He then practised for weeks until he could make shapes using his titan ability. He had reinforced the inside of the spear's handle with this crystal-like item and polished the wood so it wouldn't hurt his hands. After a few trials and errors, he discovered he could also sharpen the crystal, so he made his current blade. It was a straight, half-flat shape and ended in a point that went back down until it reached half the length of the before-mentioned blade. It was like a half-baked triangle that was abandoned half-way and never connected. The half of the longer bit of the blade was garnished and decorated with the same wood the spear's handle was crafted out of, which he then varnished with a resin-like tree sap. The intricate patterns and designs were carved in over time, mostly as a time passer since there was generally not much to do in a forest full of man-eating giants.

At the bottom of the handle, it ended in another sharp blade, albeit much smaller. It resembled a curved dagger and was detachable. He remembered feeling so accomplished when he figured out how to do that. There was also a nice, intricate design engraved with varnished wood like the rest of the spear. He'd added a loop and carved his name on it for convenience so that if, for some reason, he couldn't hold the neck of the spear, he would be able to wield it in another way with minimal damage.

Back to the issue at hand, he had somehow landed short and was only at titan's elbow. He snarled unhappily and sprinted so fast that it would put an abnormal titan to shame. The blond man stared up at him in shock and surprise, startling Eren when he shouted, "Kid, behind you!"

Eren whipped his head around so fast, he could've sworn he heard his neck crack, and not in that pleasant way when you just wake up. Seeing the titans other hand reaching for him at a high speed, he glowered darkly and jumped, letting gravity do its work as he fell towards the huge hand. The omega detached himself from his emotions like he always did when fighting these monstrosities, his ears vaguely picking up shocked shouting and some other random speech he could care less about.

He readied his masterpiece, swinging it backwards just to bring it back down with renewed titan killing vigour. He sliced the hand off in one clean sweep, relishing in the gasps and murmurs of wonder. He was proud of his fighting abilities, and the human's reaction just proved he had skill. Not that his ego needed any more boosting as it was.

Watching as the now severed titan hand fell to the ground, I decided to tune into one of the human's conversations.

_"__Is that the new guy?"_

_"__Who, Levi?"_

_"__Yeah, that guy. The shorty."_

_"__I don't know. Doesn't that kid seem too short, even for Levi?"_

_"__I know, but who else can it be?"_

By that time, I had already lost interest, but one thing did catch my attention. _'Levi?'_ I hummed, saying the name that out loud to test it. It rolled off my tongue in a satisfying way and I repeated it, my inner omega purring in satisfaction. I aimed my gear at the titans left wrist again, smirking when the disintegrating titan hand left my peripheral vision. It felt good, being superior over those titanic imbeciles. Pun intended.

The titan had stopped moving the hand with the man still stuck in it when it directed its attention to me, but now that I was on the move again, its hand also began to move.

"Shit." The hand was getting closer to the titan's mouth and the blond guy was starting to panic. A panicking guy was not something I wanted to deal with at the moment, so I hurried the gear, the gas making a loud whistle as it left the chamber and blended in with the whistle of the wind, my hair whipping around my face wildly under the hood.

I was pretty sure the other soldiers were just standing around, and that pissed me off. They were _soldiers_. They were supposed to help people, not stand around and gape like a pretty little pet goldfish.

I readied my spear again, pointing it at the titan's hand and swinging it forwards to taking a clean slice off the titan's hand. Its hands went right off, and without stopping, I shot myself back.

Back, and right into the titan's mouth.

_Fuck._

I was so dead.

My eyes screwed shut as my memories flash before me. I could hear my squad shouting at me and the whizzing of cables, but that wasn't going to help. I was still going to die. At least I had a moderately good life. I gingerly thought of my wife, how she would take the news of my death. As I neared the end of my flashbacks, the new recruits from the underground popped into my head.

That Levi kid… He sure was a wonder in itself. I've seen his skills with my own two eyes, and even though I didn't want to admit it, he was far superior than I would ever be. I guess you could say that I admired him, his strength, but now I would never be able to see his and his friend's growth. Just because I opposed and hated the idea of some thugs from the slumps joining the scouting legion didn't mean I couldn't acknowledge their talents. Even without any formal training and help, they were better than most of the soldiers I knew, and I was jealous. I admit it, I was jealous of his fighting prowess.

His conviction to his friends was far stronger than family, and his potentials were endless. The way he held his blades did irk me though. I knew I couldn't blame him for that since he had probably only ever lived in the underground city and hadn't seen any real form of how the 3D-manoeuvre gear worked, but I could still be annoyed about it, couldn't I?

I estimated that I had around twelve seconds left since this titan was taking its time, but when the time came and nothing happened, I decided to crack an eye open. There was a short kid with their hood over their head, obscuring their face from sight. They weren't just 'growing problems' short, they were short as in 'they were a kid' short.

They had a spear strapped on their back, and let me tell you, it was probably the best weaponry I had ever seen. It looked slightly worn out and old from over-use, but the blades were still sharper than ever and there was no scratch in the wood that wasn't intended. It was the very epitome of a perfect, flawless weapon, and it made me wonder where they got it from. Not even the most skilled and veteran blacksmiths in wall Sina could ever dream of creating a masterpiece like that.

Needless to say, I was shocked.

Even more so when I saw the titan's other hand reaching for the kid, so I shouted.

"Kid, behind you!" Said shorty whipped his head around, and I was pretty sure he got whiplash from the sheer speed of that head turn. I was actually pretty impressed he didn't die from a broken neck just then.

I shook my head. Now was not the time to fool around in my thought. Not when there was a kid probably over half my age trying to kill a titan that had me currently incapacitated. I swore under my breath, and then promptly had a mini-heart attack when the kid jumped down right towards the walking, non-talking killing machines hand. Was he suicidal or what?! It was then that I finally noticed that he was also wearing a 3D-manoeuvre gear, and that it was still much too big for his small figure. It didn't take a genius to figure out that it definitely didn't belong to him.

I looked closer and realised that the 'them' was a him. I had my doubts, but I was begging to think that that midget was Levi. Even though I kind of wished it was him, deep down, I knew that was unlikely. While Levi's gear was perfectly fit for him and tuned, that kids gear looked like it just came back from hell. Or the inside of a titan's stomach.

It was intact and everything, but the straps gave off the impression that they were ready to snap about any second now, so frankly, it terrified him. The reinforced metal extra blade holder was crushed like a stepped on it, and it obviously made me suspicious of how he was even alive. The blades were crushed along with the metal holder, and the blade handle was missing and the cords that it was normally attached to was snapped. My suspicion rose even higher. If his gear was that mangled, then his body should've been just as bad, if not worse. There was no way a normal human could sustain that amount of damage and live.

I was about to observe the kid's attire in more detail when he suddenly zipped out of my sight. Surprised, I scanned my eyes around my surroundings to find the boy. My eyes zeroed in on a small, speeding figure and widened when he took his spear out, swung it down and sliced the hand coming for him clean off in one single, gracefully fluent movement. Great, another midget younger than me who's way better than I've ever dreamed of.

I shook myself of my stupor and started struggling. My blades were crushed and dangling uselessly from my body, so I had no choice but to just wiggle around and hope it does something.

Sadly, it only seemed to remind the titan that I was here and its hand started to move again.

I started to struggle even more, its mouth getting closer and closer by the millisecond. I had felt the panic in me before when the titan suddenly grabbed me, but now it was really settling in. I felt it crawling up and my throat started constricting, my struggling turning frantic. _'I couldn't die. Not like this.'_

I still had my wife waiting for me and at least thirty more years of my life to live through. We were still trying for kids and I wanted to see even more new recruits and their growth. I wanted to train and lead them myself, to climb up the ranks and gain fame. But this titan was going to take it all from me. Like it took my friends, comrades, and family. _'I can't die. I just can't.'_

All of a sudden, as if God had heard my prayers, an unforeseen force took the damn bastards hand off and it loosened around me, quite literally freeing me from the very clutches of death. I thanked every one of my lucky stars and shot myself on to one of the many thick branches. I only just remembered the kid from before. My head immediately turned to find the small guy, and to my greatest horror, he zipped back and went right into the titan's open mouth. It then closed on him, shutting the poor child inside and secured his doom.

I cried out in alarm, my squad giving me an odd look. I don't know whether they saw my saviour of a kid, but I growled at them nonetheless. "There was a kid who saved my ass when none of you even moved, and he just got swallowed alive. If you're not going to help, then screw off and go back to your mom." They balked at me, eyes surprised, but still lighting up in recognition. So they had seen him. They weren't offended though, since I would often criticize them with harsh looks and even harsher words.

They looked at each other uncertainly, but nodded in determination anyways, having come to a unanimous agreement.

_'__Kill the titan. Save the kid.'_

I opened my mouth to give out the orders, but to our greatest bewilderment, the titan's head burst open with a bloody spray of... well… _blood_. Even more astonishing, the kid from before hopped out like nothing ever happened. It was such a casual act, I couldn't help but feel this was an everyday norm for him.

He glanced around and his eyes zeroed in on the titan's hand I was stuck in until a minute ago. He appeared to be thinking about something and gave off the feeling of being worried. At least he was, until he tilted his head up and gave a sniff, abruptly turning his head in my direction. His shoulders sagged, probably in relief, and I felt compelled to go over and thank him. Saving a life was a pretty big deal after all.

With that in my head, I took a step forward and prepared myself to jump off and go express my gratitude to the child. Once again managing to surprise me, before I could take off, he turned around and bolted. I was going to thank him and just let him go, but now that everything became too suspicious, I decided to steel myself and gave my squad a new order.

"There has been a change of plans," They gave me a confused look, but I merely shook them off, "Catch and detain that kid. He is a suspicious figure and needs to be questioned. Move out."

Their eyes hardened and we all jumped, each of us whizzing off at different times with me leading.

I just hoped we didn't run into any more titans.


End file.
